If you love good coffee but hate paying $11 to $16 a pound for high-quality coffee beans, have I got great news. You can drink the best and pay half the price. The secret? Roast your own coffee beans. It's cheap, it's fun, and you'll be the envy of your friends and family.

Theoretically, you can roast coffee in any vessel that gets very hot. A Whirley Pop Stovetop Popcorn Popper works well, as does a cast-iron skillet. I've used both outdoors on the side burner of my grill. The beans must be stirred manually and watched carefully. This stir method is not as reliable or as easy as a third option: the air popcorn popper, specifically a West Bend Poppery II air popper. If you don't have one stashed in your garage, pick one up at a garage sale or on eBay for just a few dollars.

Because coffee roasting produces some smoke and chaff, set up the popper outdoors on a patio or balcony, using an extension cord. Pour three-quarters of a cup of green coffee beans into the chamber where the popcorn kernels go. Put the top, including the butter-melting dish, in place. The beans will stir themselves. After two or three minutes (times vary), you will hear them begin to "crack."

After about five minutes from the start, you will be at a light (city) to medium roast. If you wait up to about six minutes, you will have a full-bodied dark French roast. The roasting fragrance smells nothing like coffee. But you will enjoy it.

Once you reach the desired roast, immediately unplug the popper and pour the beans into a colander, with another colander or sieve standing by.

Pour the beans back and forth between the two colanders to cool the beans quickly. Dark-roast beans will smoke as you quickly cool them, and that's just fine.

Allow the roasted beans to mellow for at least two hours before you grind them. Store the beans in a tightly sealed container. Grind only the amount you need to make a pot of coffee. Use the beans within two weeks.

And now for the good news: Green coffee beans start as low as $4.29 a pound (at this writing), depending on the origin and variety. My favorite is La Minita Tarrazu from Costa Rica. I usually pay about $6 a pound plus shipping for my favorite beans and order 25 to 50 pounds at a time.

If you cannot find green coffee beans locally, try U-Roast-Em (www.URoastEm.com), the best coffee company in the world. Their service is impeccable, and they have a huge offering of coffee.

If you find a good cup of coffee to be one of life's extraordinary joys, just wait until you make it from beans you've roasted yourself. It's very much like the difference between a vine-ripened tomato from your garden and one of those barely pink excuses for a tomato in a grocery. Need I say more?

Mary Hunt is the founder of www.DebtProofLiving.com and author of 17 books, including "Debt-Proof Living." You can e-mail her at mary@everydaycheapskate.com, or write to Everyday Cheapskate, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, CA 90723. To find out more about Mary Hunt and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
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